Through Mismatched Eyes
by MoonageDaydream23
Summary: Labyrinth through the eyes of everyone's favorite Goblin King, proof that in the Labyrinth, nothing really is what it seems. Jareth/Sarah, of course! Also, angsting is fun.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Love at First Sight

A white barn owl swooped out of nowhere through the cloudless blue sky, surveying the human realm, so different from his own, as he soared— for this was no mere owl. He was a Fae by the name of Jareth, king of a filthy band of goblins he was only too glad to have escaped… if only briefly. Disgusting, squalid, unruly creatures, they were— he had often thought that his position as Goblin King was a mere figurehead. Surely, they had no need for government. He knew he was right, too, as things never appeared to have gotten too out of hand after one of his escapes to the Aboveground.

A voice snapped the Goblin King out of his utter detestation for his revolting subjects, the sweet voice of a young girl. Jareth couldn't make out the words, but already, he was entranced. Flying lower, he saw her and his little owl heart beat faster against his chest. Though she was no more than fifteen— and a mortal, no less— he couldn't help but be struck by her indescribable beauty. She was dressed like a princess of his own world, in a butter yellow gown slightly large on her, but held to her form by a pink ribbon that matched the ones streaming off of a circlet of roses to mingle with her long, dark hair.

She was kneeling on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around a large sheepdog that was wriggling, learly not pleased by the embrace. The girl, however, took no notice, instead continuing her speech. "When she returned, the Beast lay dying in the garden," she informed the dog. "No, Beast, you won't die… you will live to be my husband. I thought it was only friendship I felt, but now I know it is love." Finally, she noticed the dog's grumbles of protest and let him go, standing and brushing dirt off her dress.

"Fine, I won't finish," she said with a smile that made Jareth's heart melt. "Oh, if only you really were the beast that turns into a prince, though, Merlin, and take me away from this awful place." The dog rubbed against the girl, who absentmindedly scratched behind his ears. "I can't stand living with Karen anymore…." She looked up at the clock tower peering over the trees in which Jareth was perched. "I guess we'd better get home…. Daddy will want me to slave away for my wicked stepmother while they go out again." She sighed. "Come on, Merlin!" With that, she was hurrying away from the Goblin King. His every instinct was to follow her, but he knew he would be needed back in the Underground.

I'll be back, the silently promised the beautiful mortal girl.

And he was. Day after day, week after week, he returned in time for another captivating story from the exquisite young girl, whose name, he quickly learned from nights of following her to her window, was Sarah. Though she thought she was performing only for a dog, he watched intently as she wove him story after story, from the tale of a princess who fell asleep for a hundred years because of a faery's curse, to the one about the mermaid who traded her voice for legs out of love for a prince. She told him of a princess who lived with seven dwarves until a witch poisoned her to sleep until a prince came to awaken her and of a servant girl who became a princess because of a glass shoe, a flying boy who took a girl to an island where they would never grow old, and of a girl locked in a tower and visited only by the witch who had to climb up her long hair. Each story had its own costume to go with it, each making the girl look more beautiful than the last. Each tale ended the same— Sarah wishing for her own faery tale to come true and rescue her from her stepmother's clutches. Jareth yearned to fly down, transform before her, and promise to make all her dreams come true, but he knew he could never go through with it unless she wished it of him.

The thought was excruciating, causing him to skulk around his palace as a miserable shell of what he had once been and nearly triple the goblin population in the reeking cesspool known as the Bog of Eternal Stench. Even the least intelligent of the goblins knew that their king hadn't been the same since the fateful day he had found this girl, but no one had a name for his affliction.

No one, that is, except for the Goblin King himself.

Love.

The King of the Goblins had fallen in love with a mere mortal girl. Of course, he would never admit it to anyone, including himself, but in his heart, he knew that was what it was. It pained him to no end that he could never even speak with her outside of the wild dreams that plagued him night after night. Unrequited love was the worst fate a Fae could suffer, he thought to himself forlornly, as he flew off after watching her tell of a girl falling down a rabbit hole to a world that reminded him quite a bit of his own Labyrinth.

He had yet to find out just how right he was.


	2. I Wish

**Chapter Two: I Wish….**

The day that ruined all started out as any other, with the owl Jareth soaring to his usual tree stump to hear Sarah's fairy tale of the day. Her words were distorted from this height, but he could swear that he had heard the words "Goblin King" issue from her enchanting lips. He nearly fell out of the sky in his haste to hear the rest of a story that may well involve him! Could this mean he would finally be able to appear to her?

"Give me the child," she was saying, as Jareth nearly fell out of the sky in his eagerness to hear more. Today, she wore flowers in her hair and a green dress that brought out the color of her exquisite eyes quite magnificently— like pale jewels, he thought. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great."

She faltered, but he hardly noticed. The Goblin King's mind was in a frenzy over how there was far too much coincidence in this story for it to be about anyone but him. He took away children who were unwanted by their parents or siblings, which could be called stealing by one who regretted the wish, and his palace was known far and wide as the creatively named "castle beyond the Goblin City."

"For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great…." Sarah repeated, though with less passion than before. "D*amn. Oh, I can never remember that line…." She slipped a small, faded red book from her pocket, and with the owl's enhanced vision, Jareth could make out a title that sealed his conviction that she truly believed in him. The Labyrinth. "You have no power over me."

The sheepdog Merlin barked once as Jareth prepared his magic for a transformation, ready to sweep her into his arms and whisk her away to the Underground at last. "Oh, Merlin," sighed Sarah, before looking above Jareth. "Oh, no, Merlin!" she cried, gathering her skirts and snapping the owl out of the conentration necessary to complete the metamorphosis from bird to Fae. "I don't believe it! It's seven o' clock!" With that, she dashed away from the park, the white bird following closely behind her despite the pouring rain soaking his feathers through.

"Oh, it's not fair!" wailed Sarah as she approached her house, flowers askew and gown ruined by the downpour.

"Oh, really?" sneered a woman who could only be Sarah's stepmother. Jareth, shielded from the torrent by the leaves above the tree branch he was perched in, ruffled his feathers menacingly. He had only heard about this woman, but that was more than enough of a reason for him to have developed intense dislike for her. How could anyone treat the most precious thing in the world so shamefully? "Well, don't stand there in the rain, come on!"

"All right," sighed Sarah. "Come on, Merlin."

"Not the dog!" ordered the stepmother.

"But it's pouring!" protested Sarah.

The stepmother was indifferent to the poor girl's objections. "Go on, into the garage," she demanded of the dog.

Sarah groaned in defeat and frustration. "Go on, Merlin, go into the garage." With that, both women vanished into the house, and Jareth was forced to relocate to a branch overlooking what could only have been Sarah's room.

Jareth's large, round eyes grew wider as he gazed through the window at his beloved's bedchamber. Everything in here resembled something in his own realm, from the wooden Labyrinth to the bookend shaped like the dwarf who did his bidding— Hogwash, his name was, or Hedgewart. Something like that, at any rate. There was a stuffed toy of Sir Didymus, Bridgekeeper in the Land of Stench, and another of a Fiery, playful creatures who often took their games a bit too far. Jareth even noted a figurine of himself perched on Sarah's vanity!

Suddenly Sarah stormed in, and as she calmed her anger by sitting in front of her mirror, gazing around at the various trinkets as she combed out her long, silky hair. He couldn't make out the words she spoke through the window, but by the look of her lips, they were the very same ones she had been saying by the river. Jareth flew to the window, preparing to open it by magic and, once again, to change into his true form and offer her her dreams. Unfortunately, once again, Fate defied his efforts to give her his love, and she stormed off because of something her wicked stepmother or oddly ineffectual father had said.

Suddenly, he heard her voice in his mind, a desperate plea as close as "I wish the goblins would come and take me away right now" as he could have hoped for— "Someone save me, someone take me away from this awful place!" The sounds of a wailing baby could be heard behind the cries, and Jareth soared off to a branch outside Sarah's parents window, finding her furious with her baby brother, lying in the crib beside her. The Goblin King quivered with anticipation, as the fact that he could hear her words now meant that there was absolutely no chance that she wouldn't say the words now.

"What do you want?" she was demanding of the child. "Do you want a story? Okay. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child who wanted everything for himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl and he had given her certain powers."

Wait. How in the worlds had she known that? He hadn't heard anything about it in the story she had told, so how could she possibly know how he felt about her?

"So one night, when the baby had been particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help."

Scratchy little voices interfered with Jareth's ability to concentrate on the story and the strange new developments in it. The goblins, too, could hear, and it was this that caused a crushing wave of disappointment to rush over him. They only heard mortals when they were about to wish a child away, not themselves. Such a pity… but Jareth could work with this. He would still be able to appear to her, to tell her everything….

Wouldn't he?

"'Say your right words,' the goblins said, 'and we'll take the baby to the Goblin City, and you will be free," Sarah continued viciously, making the babe cry ever harder and the goblins quiver with excitement. "But the girl knew the King of the Goblins would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever and turn it into a goblin, so she suffered in silence until one night when she was tired from doing housework and hurt by the harsh words of her stepmother and she could no longer stand it."

Lies! thought Jareth angrily. He would never turn a child into a goblin— he had enough of the repulsive little things already, and besides, mortal children were such precious little things. It was so rewarding to see the unwanted babes when he brought them to a good home in the Underground, where they could live happily in the care of a Fae or Sidhe who did want them. However, clearly Sarah didn't know that, and nor did Toby, who just kept crying.

"Oh, all right!" she cried in frustration. "Knock it off. Come on, stop it, stop it! I'll say the words!" she warned. "No, I mustn't, I mustn't say…." Say the words, Sarah! Jareth wanted to scream. "I wish… I wish…!"

"She's going to say it!" a goblin gasped, stating the obvious as goblins were so fond of doing.

"Say what?

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"Will you all shut up?!" demanded the Goblin King to his subjects. "If she is going to say the words, I need to hear this!"

"Listen!" hissed another goblin, too stupid to heed his king's words. "She's going to say the words!" 

"I can bear it no longer!" screamed Sarah. "Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be! Take this child of mine far away from me!" If he could have, Jareth would have buried his face in the palm of his hand. Really, Sarah, do you honestly think that could have summoned me? 

The goblins concurred. "Where did she learn that rubbish? It doesn't even start with 'I wish!'"

"Oh, Toby, stop it!" cried Sarah, but Toby didn't pay her any mind. "I wish I did know what to say to make the goblins take you away…."

"'I wish the goblins would come take you away right now!'" snapped a goblin impatiently, reflecting Jareth's own feelings exactly. "That's not hard, is it?!"

"I wish…" Sarah began, realization filling her lovely green eyes. "I wish…." Jareth braced himself and his magic, prepared for the change at last, before his concentration was broken by yet another outburst from his goblins.

"Did she say it?" a particularly slow one inquired. He was answered with a loud round of "Shut up!" s, the loudest roared by his king.

Sarah turned from the room, giving up on getting the boy to stop crying. Finally, finally, she snapped, "I wish the goblins would come take you away…." She paused to flip the light switch off, and as she disappeared, she finished with the fateful words, "Right now." 

Goblins raced to their work, trying to stay quiet but unable to contain their squeaks and giggles of excitement as they snatched the baby from his crib to bear him away to the Goblin City. Jareth struggled with the window latch as Sarah returned, frantically searching for her brother and the source of the strange noises. Finally, he simply threw the windows open by magic, fluttering inside.

At last, at long last, he transformed into his Fae form before Sarah's eyes. A cloud of glitter swirled around his slender body as he greedily drank in every inch of the mortal girl's beauty with his mismatched eyes, one brown, one blue. His long, wild hair fell to one side with the tilt of his head, tumbling unevenly over his shoulder and chest.

He was pleased to know that she knew exactly who he was. "You're him, aren't you?" she asked, a quiver of fear in her voice. "You're the Goblin King!" Jareth only smirked in response. So she expected to fear him, did she? "I want my brother back, please, if it's all the same."

"What's said is said," Jareth replied haughtily. She wanted to be the heroine of her story, of that much he was sure. Unfortunately, he knew that would require him to play the villain, but if it would make her happy….

"But I didn't mean it!" she protested tearfully.

"Oh, you didn't?" sneered Jareth knowingly. Had she not meant it to some degree, he wouldn't have been able to come. Children always meant it when they wished away a sibling. Always.

"Please, where is he?"

One would think she hadn't read that Labyrinth book hundreds of times…. "You know very well where he is."

"Please bring him back," begged Sarah. "Please."

But that would be disappointing you, wouldn't it, my dear? Jareth thought. "Sarah," he replied coolly, her name delicious on his tongue, like an exotic fruit. Say-rah…. "Go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby."

"I can't," Sarah replied, sounding close to tears.

Undeterred, Jareth pulled a crystal from thin air. "I've brought you a gift."

She gazed at the orb, intrigued in spite of herself. "What is it?"

"It's a crystal," replied Jareth, twisting it around his hand, "nothing more, but if you turn it this way and look into it… it will show you your dreams." He demonstrated and revealed an image of her dreams— his own reflection, shown at an odd angle that couldn't possibly be natural. And yet she still feared him…. "But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby." He smirked, knowing that his Sarah, as he had come to think of her, was far from ordinary. "Do you want it?" She hesitated, and he pulled the crystal away from her. "Then forget the baby!" Staying with him wasn't such a terrible fate. After all, Jareth never turned innocent human children into repulsive, abhorrent goblins.

"I can't," repeated Sarah. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I want my brother back! He must be so scared!"

Her dedication to her brother was admirable, certainly not what the Goblin King was used to seeing from those who wished away children. He came dangerously close to breaking the charade of villainy to tell her that Toby was in no immediate danger… but decided against it at the last minute. If she wanted to be the heroine of her own fairy tale, so be it. "Sarah," Jareth warned, turning the crystal into a snake, which wove around his gloved fingers. "Don't defy me." He let the serpent leap from his hands to Sarah, who screamed before it turned into a harmless scarf. A goblin scooped it up, cackling along with its fellows. "You're no match for me, Sarah."

"But I need to have my brother back!" pleaded Sarah yet again. With a sigh and a small roll of his mismatched eyes, Jareth translocated himself and Sarah to the Underground, overlooking the Labyrinth and the Goblin City.

"He's there, in my castle," he replied, pointing it out for her as she gaped at the sudden change of scenery. "Do you still want to look for him?" So few said yes to running his Labyrinth, and no one had ever succeeded in winning. He had a feeling Sarah was different, and he longed to find out.

"Is that the castle beyond the Goblin City?" she asked timidly, looking up at him.

"Turn back, Sarah," Jareth called mockingly, though behind the arrogance was a real desire to keep her out of the "dangers untold" she was setting herself up for. "Turn back before it's too late."

"I can't," she replied for the third time. "Don't you understand that I can't?"

"What a pity," sighed Jareth, vowing to protect her from his Labyrinth at all costs, with or without her knowledge.

"It doesn't look that far," Sarah said bravely, sentiments that were ruined when she jumped— Jareth had glided closer to her so that his long blonde hair tickled her cheek and the back of her neck as it fluttered in the wind.

"It's further than you think," he replied softly, letting his breath drift softly over her skin. "Time is short." He stepped away, letting a clock appear behind him, an Underground clock numbered to thirteen instead of twelve. "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us… forever." It sounded threatening, as he knew she wanted, but he omitted one very important detail— one of us would imply his inclusion, and he was absolutely not a goblin. He was a Fae, just like young Toby would become should Sarah fail to defeat the Labyrinth. Jareth's feelings on the necessity of keeping up the appearance of a villain were reflected in his final words to his beloved Sarah as he vanished back to his castle.

"Such a pity…."  



	3. Dance, Magic Dance!

Chapter Three: Dance, Magic, Dance!  
Jareth reappeared in his throne room to find the babe surrounded by curious goblins, being poked and prodded and terrified. "Don't crowd the little thing, now," he ordered gently as the child continued to wail. He collapsed in his throne, sprawled gracefully over it and still looking at Toby. "Don't be frightened, child…. I assure you, you will be quite well cared for as the Heir to the Goblin Throne."

Toby made a little squeak in which the word "Sawa" could vaguely be recognized.

Jareth sighed. "So, you think that I'm a wicked kidnapper as well… such a pity. I supposed I'll just have to show you that she is, in fact, in no danger." He produced a crystal from thin air, showing the image of Sarah nervously navigating the first straightaway in the Labyrinth.

For hours.

And hours.

And hours.

"Really, Sarah, and I thought you were more intelligent than this," remarked Jareth, finally getting fed up with watching her run in a straight line, wondering how this thing could be called a Labyrinth. He twisted the crystal around, and the image within changed to a small, but cozy little hole in the wall, decorated with tiny worn carpets and crooked photos of its inhabitants. "Charlie," he demanded of the first inhabitant.

"'Allo, Your Majesty!" The speaker was a tiny worm, with fluffy blue hair and large red eyes blinking up at the Goblin King. "Always a pleasure, sire, always a pleasure…."

"Charlie, 'oo is it?" asked a female voice with a Cockney accent to rival the first worm's out of Jareth's vision.

"The King, dear!" replied Charlie the Worm.

"Oh, the King, eh? Oh, very nice, very nice indeed. Send 'im my regards, will you?"

"Lucy sends 'er regards," Charlie the Worm informed Jareth, who couldn't resist smiling a little at the simple little worms' babbling. "What can I do for you, sire?"

"If you see a young girl passing your way, do give her directions through the Labyrinth. I would hate to see a pretty little thing like her fail just because she never found the doorway."

"Of course, Your 'ighness!" said Charlie jovially. There was a sound that sounded like a groan of frustration from outside the worms' house.

"That should be her now, if I'm not mistaken."

"Then I best get moving! Good luck, Your Majesty!" Charlie began to inch towards the hole that served as his doorway before the Goblin King called him back.

"Wait, Charlie! Make sure she doesn't come through the gate that leads straight here," he ordered. "We don't want to make this too simple for her, do we?"

Charlie chuckled good-naturedly. "Of course not, Your Majesty. Tell the goblins 'allo!" Jareth smirked and let the crystal vanish.

Toby was still crying.

The King of the Goblins sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, glancing at the clock with which he was keeping track of Sarah's time. Wonderful. He still had to put up with that infernal noise for nine and a half hours.

Wait….

Suddenly, Jareth jumped up and grabbed a goblin loosely by the throat. "You remind me of the babe." Toby went quiet, watching the Goblin King carefully.

"What babe?" inquired the goblin.

"The babe with the power."

"What power?" asked another.

"The power of voodoo!" He released the goblin.

"Who do?"

"You do!"

"Do what?" asked all the goblins together.

"Remind me of the babe!" By some miracle, the baby actually laughed, enticing a grin onto Jareth's face and excited chatter from the goblins. "Quiet!" he snapped, pointing dramatically to the child. "A goblin babe." He laughed throatily and glared at the goblins when they didn't join him. "Well?" Finally, the hole throne room was awash in laughter as the goblins, their King, and their soon-to-be heir danced around the room, singing a song of Jareth's own creation.

"I saw my baby  
Crying hard as babe could cry  
What could I do?  
My baby's love had gone and left my baby blue!  
Nobody knew  
What kind of magic spell to use?"

"Slime and snails," suggested one of the goblins.

"Puppy dog tails," proposed another.

"Thunder or lightning," recommended a third.

"Then baby said—" Jareth pointed at Toby dramatically, enticing a gurgly laugh from the child and a raucous chorus from his subjects.

"Dance, magic dance  
Dance, magic dance  
Put that baby spell on me  
Jump, magic jump  
Jump, magic jump  
Put that magic jump on me  
Slap that baby, make him free!"

Jareth scooped the child into his arms and grinned. "In nine hours and twenty-three minutes, you'll be mine!" How he had longed to have a child of his own, one he didn't need to send off to some far-away Fae or Sidhe, never to be seen again…. Now that he had stopped crying, Toby proved to be quite enjoyable company, and when he was raised properly, he would be an excellent king.

The party continued, each goblin taking its turn dancing with Toby as everyone continued to sing. Jareth tossed the child into the air a few times, much to his delight, and it was only when his advisor and healer, an irritable old witch named Brisiri, cut in that the merriment ended.

"What in the blazes are you doin' wiv that poor child?" she demanded.

"Ah, dear Brisiri, must you ruin a bit of innocent fun?" sighed Jareth mockingly as the witch glared at him, violet eyes blazing.

"Tossin' him up in the air like that? It's dangerous, Jareth, you know it is," snapped Brisiri. With her long, silver braid, wrinkled skin, Cockney accent and tattered clothes, she wouldn't have appeared out of place pushing a shopping cart on the streets of a human city… except for the fact that she was two thousand years old. Ill-tempered though she was, she cared deeply for the Goblin King and looked after him like the parents he had barely known….

"I wouldn't have let him fall," replied Jareth coolly, twirling a crystal idly in his palm to the delight of the baby now resting happily in his lap. "Just like you know I wouldn't let any harm befall my dear Sarah…."

"Just don' let me catch you doin' it again," scolded Brisiri, storming out of the throne room. Jareth's attention turned to Sarah in his crystal as she through a hole to a world of utter darkness.

"She's in the oubliette," Jareth remarked. The goblins roared with laughter. "Shut up!" he demanded. "She should not have gotten as far as the oubliette. She should have given up by now." And when she did, she would have been his… he added silently. They both would have. No one ever made it past Alph, Ralph, Zeke, and Eke, the double headed guards who stood in front of the Helping Hands.

"She'll never give up!" piped up a goblin.

"Won't she?" replied Jareth, thinking of the little surprise he had waiting down there for her. A dwarf named Hoghead— no, Hedgewart— no, Hoggle had been placed there, awaiting the first runner to fall and get trapped within the darkest depths of the Labyrinth. Then he would bring Sarah back to the beginning, where Jareth would be waiting for his chance to make her his Queen. It would be a foolproof plan… if he could be absolutely certain about the dwarf's loyalty. "The dwarf's about to lead her back to the beginning. She'll soon give up when she realizes she has to start all over again!" His deep, rich laugh echoed off the walls for just a moment until he stopped abruptly to glance at the goblins. He'd been doing this for centuries, and still, they weren't used to acting the villain? Idiots…. "Well? Laugh!"

They did.


	4. A Piece of Cake

Chapter Four: A Piece of Cake

Yes, Jareth's plan to keep Sarah in the Labyrinth was perfect… but still, he worried about the dwarf's dubious loyalty to him. Certainly, he should have been unswervingly faithful to him, the Goblin King, of all people, but dwarves were notorious cowards, infamous for siding with whoever happened to benefit them more at the time. Hoggle could ruin all for him….

Determined not to allow the little scab to lose him his Queen, Jareth sauntered to the tunnels of the Labyrinth, ignoring the booming rumbles of "Don't go on" and "This is not the way" from the rock faces along the sides, disguised as a goblin. He sat on the ground against a wall, waiting for Hogwash to bring the girl past him so he could give him a little reminder of what it would mean to betray him….

Finally, two sets of footsteps and more thundering false alarms alerted Jareth to their presence. He let a crystal fall from his fingertips, rolling towards the pair and back into the metal tankard clutched in his hand. The dwarf gasped, and Jareth smirked under his disguise. "Ah, what have we here?"

"Uh— nothing!" lied Hoghead lamely, clearly recognizing the Goblin King through the disguise.

"Nothing?" repeated Jareth, standing and tearing his goblin cloak off to reveal his true face. "Nothing? NOTHING? Nothing, tra la la?" He waved the mask tauntingly at the dwarf before tossing it aside.

"Oh— uh, Your Majesty!" stammered the dwarf, terrified by Jareth's very presence. Jareth smirked, knowing that this would make his job all the easier. "What a nice surprise!"

"Hello, Hedgewart," replied Jareth coldly, with a mirthless smile.

"Hogwart," Sarah corrected quickly.

"Hoggle," snapped the dwarf irritably.

The smirk faded from Jareth's face as he bent down to the dwarf's level. "Hoggle, can it be that you're helping this girl?"

"H-h-helping?" stuttered Hoggle, eyes darting everywhere but at Jareth. "In what sense?"

"In the sense that you're leading her towards the castle!" snapped Jareth. If he lost her that easily….

"Oh, no!" lied Hogbrain falteringly. "I was taking her back to the beginning, Your Majesty!"

The fabrication, however ineffective, fooled Sarah. "What?" she demanded. And I thought you were intelligent, my dear… such a pity.

"I told her I would help her get to the center of the Labyrinth," explained Hoggle, "a little trickery on my part, but actually—"

Something sparkled on his wrist that most certainly hadn't been there the last time the unfortunate necessity of talking to Hedgewart had arisen. Plastic, by the look of it, rarer than diamond in the Underground, but more common than debris Above. That would, of course, mean it had been given to him by Sarah, and was proof that the dwarf was planning to double-cross him. "What is that plastic thing 'round your wrist?" demanded Jareth.

"Uh… oh, this! My goodness, where did this come from?" His feigned surprise at the appearance of the bracelet was so absolutely appalling, he could see that even Sarah was dying to wrap her fingers around the little cretin's throat. Jareth, however, played along with him as he stood, glaring down with his fierce mismatched eyes.

"Hoggle, if I thought for one second you were betraying me, I'd be forced to suspend you into the Bog of Eternal Stench," he said coolly. The warning tone belied a sinister threat, something that Jareth loathed using against humans but had no problem with showing to his servants.

"No, Your Majesty! Not the Eternal Stench!" The dwarf sank to his knees, clutching to Jareth's tight breeches as he begged.

"Oh, yes, Hoggle!" snarled Jareth, hitting the dwarf hard in the stomach with his knee to get him off. He turned to Sarah, his eyes softening in spite of his rage at Hogwash. "And you, Sarah," he purred gently, leaning against the wall to silence the little voice in his mind that demanded him to give up the villain act and kiss her then and there. He was almost close enough, too…. "How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

Such defiance lit those beautiful green eyes of hers, such fire danced in those lovely pale jewels. "It's a piece of cake," she said boldly. He heard the dwarf groan behind him.

"Oh, really?" replied Jareth coolly. "Then how about upping the stakes?" Not only did he know she was expecting the Labyrinth to be harder, but if she defeated him, he would surely lose any chance he had of winning her heart. The clock from his throne room appeared, and he twirled his hands, turning the timer back and giving her three fewer hours in which to solve the Labyrinth.

"That's not fair!" she protested furiously.

"You say that so often," remarked Jareth. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is." He stepped away from her as his resistance to her beauty dropped dangerously low. A crystal appeared in his palm as he sneered, "So the Labyrinth's a piece of cake, is it? Let's see how you deal with this little slice." He hurled the crystal into the darkness, and a loud clattering echoed through the tunnel as a great iron monstrosity clanged towards them.

"Oh, no, the Cleaners!" wailed Hoggle.

"What?!" gasped Sarah.

"Run!" advised the dwarf.

Jareth smirked as he translocated back to his castle, but there was a bitterness in his eyes. She thought he had truly meant to harm her… swould never know that he had slowed the cleaners so she could outrun them.

"My Sarah," he sighed as he collapsed back into his throne, "will you ever let me play the part of the Prince in your story?"

"Oh, now, why so glum?" Jareth jumped slightly; he hadn't noticed Brisiri enter the room with the babe in her arms.

"I hate this," he spat bitterly. "I hate having to treat her as though I despise her for her persistence, dedication, her beauty…. I want to love her, but she will never know it, and all because she wants me to hate her."

"Hmm… this is a problem," remarked Brisiri. "Is this the same girl wot you been stalking all these years?"

"I was not stalking her," Jareth protested, "I was listening to the stories she told in the park."

"And followin' 'er home, and starin' in 'er window… I dunno about you, Jareth, but I calls that stalking," replied the witch, smirking.

Jareth rolled his eyes. "Are you here to mock me, or are you going to do your job as my advisor and say something helpful?"

"Actually, I'm 'ere to give this back to you," Brisiri replied, depositing young Toby into his arms, "but so long as I'm 'ere, might as well give you a spot of advice. It's magic wot'll help you outta this one, Jareth… if you want her to forget she hates you, 's the only way."

Jareth nodded gloomily as Brisiri swept out of the room in a swirl of silver hair and ragged patchwork dress. The babe began to squirm in his arms, and he gently rubbed his back, earning a small belch from the child. "You're welcome," he said with a small smile. Even if he did lose Sarah, having this one as his heir would be quite the prize. "He's a lively little chap. I think I'll call him Jareth." He took an affectionate look at he who would be raised as his own son. "He's got my eyes." The goblins around him roared with laughter, but Jareth's heart hardly felt lighter. True, Toby was some small consolation, but he was nothing compared to his sister, the girl who he longed so desperately to make the Goblin Queen.


	5. Jealousy

Chapter Five: Jealousy

Magic swirled through the throne room in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, so thick and strong that it made a silver mist fill the entire chamber. Jareth knew he was taking a horrible risk by using so much magic at once, but what choice did he have if he was to win Sarah's heart at long last? To congeal into a solid form the mixture of a spell for forgetfulness and one to bring them both into a figment of his imagination took an immense amount of his strength, but, oh, what a figment it was….

Finally, a crystal lay in Jareth's gloved palm. A small smile appeared on his face, glistening with sweat from the strain his magic had put on him, as he gazed at his handiwork. Please let this work… he silently pleaded as he vanished to the Labyrinth to corner the catalyst in his plan.

"I'm comin' Sarah!" he heard said catalyst cry out as he appeared behind him.

"Well! If it isn't you," sneered Jareth. Hedgebrain turned around to face him, a terrified expression on his ugly little face. "And where are you going?"

"Uh, well…" stammered the dwarf, thinking up another of his lame excuses. This would be easy…. "The little lady gave me the slip, but I just hears her now, so I was about to lead her back to the beginning… like you told me!" How thick did the little monster think he was?

"I see," replied Jareth, clearly not believing a word of this. "For one moment, I thought you were running to help her. But… no, not after my warnings. That would be stupid." He didn't need anyone augmenting the horrible reputation he had in Sarah's mind, least of all an imbecilic dwarf who claimed to be a friend one moment but was just a threat away from his filthy turncoat nature.

"Oh, you bet it would!" agreed the dwarf shakily. "Me? Help her? After your warnings?" A weak cackle burst out from his lips, but quickly died when he turned back around to face the Goblin King, who had knelt down to get a better look at the vile little freak. Something seemed to be missing….

"Oh, dear!" said Jareth with a sarcastic gasp. "Poor Hoghead!"

"Hoggle," corrected the dwarf meekly.

Jareth continued as if Hogwash hadn't interrupted. "I've just noticed your lovely jewels are missing." Surely the dwarf's pitiful attempt at a lie would be enough to ascertain as to what had happened to them, though he was sure he had a very good idea.

"Uh… oh, yes!" Hoggle gave a halfhearted look around, pretending to try and find them, though Jareth knew perfectly well that he had given them to Sarah for reasons unknown. "So they are… my lovely jewels… let me think. I'd better find them. But first, I'm off to take the little lady to the beginning of the Labyrinth, just like we planned." He turned to waddle swiftly away, but stopped dead when Jareth called him back.

"Wait!" Jareth summoned the crystal he had created moments earlier, gazing into its foggy depths, belying the fact that it awaited the addition of his dream to complete the spell. "I've got a much better plan, Hoggle. Give her this." He turned the crystal once and tossed it to the dwarf, who gazed bewilderedly at what was now a flawless peach, all sunset orange and golden yellow.

"W-what is it?" stammered the dwarf, still staring at the enchanted fruit.

"It's a present," replied Jareth curtly. Hoghead didn't need to know how vitally important it was that Sarah received it….

"It ain't gonna hurt the little lady, is it?" asked Hogwash doubtfully.

Of course not, you little twit, Jareth thought furiously. How dare anyone insinuate that he would lay a finger on the most amazing girl in two worlds? And why would a dwarf care, anyway? "Oh, now, why the concern?"

"I won't do nothin' to harm her," the dwarf held stubbornly.

Jareth's heart burned with jealousy. Could Sarah really have chosen a mere dwarf for a friend, a filthy, lying little beast with betrayal running through its veins, while he, a Fae with nothing but love in his heart, was shunned and treated as an enemy? And she said that her life wasn't fair! "Oh, come, come, come, Hogbrain! I'm surprised at you, losing your head over a girl!" snapped Jareth.

"I ain't lost my head!" protested Hogwash.

"You don't think a young girl could ever like a repulsive little scab like you, do you?" sneered Jareth, prodding the dwarf he now saw as a rival with his riding crop.

"Well, she said she was—" began Hoggle, but Jareth couldn't bear to hear it from his lips.

"Bosom companions?" he finished derisively. "Friends?" 

"Don't matter," muttered the dwarf.

"You'll give her that, Hoggle, or I'll tip you straight into the Bog of Eternal Stench before you can blink!" snarled Jareth viciously. Hoggle muttered something to show he understood, but his reluctance set a fire of utmost rage streaming through the Goblin King's blood. "And Hoggle," he added, as an idea to prevent the miserable dwarf stealing what was rightfully his entered his mind. "If she ever kisses you, I'll turn you into a prince."

Hogwart's blue eyes went wide. "Y-you will?" he stammered.

"Prince of the Land of Stench!" announced Jareth, chuckling wickedly as he translocated back to his castle. His smile vanished, though, when he collapsed into his throne. "Jealous of a dwarf…" he mused miserably as he watched Hoggle rescuing Sarah from a hoard of Fieries intent on decapitating her. "So this is my lowest point…."

Something in the crystal caught his eye and caused the Goblin King to bolt straight upright, heart pounding violently. Sarah, in some form of misplaced gratitude, was moving ever closer to the snivelling little cretin, finally pressing the lips that belonged nowhere but against Jareth's to Hoggle's cheek. An inhuman cry of rage erupted from his throat, sending several goblins scurrying for cover, and an explosion of magic wended its way towards Sarah and her companion, dropping the floor out from under them and sending them straight into the Bog.

Jareth lay back down, pinching the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. He hadn't meant to send Sarah to the Bog with Hoggle, but he had lost control. "Sarah…" he murmured. "Why must you continue to force me to hurt you?"

"Did summat stupid again?" came a sneering voice from behind him.

"Good evening to you, too, Brisiri," replied Jareth tonelessly, not looking at the witch with the child in her arms.

"You've really gotta stop disappearin' like that," snapped Brisiri, "and leavin' me all alone wiv your newest pet."

"You needn't worry about it for long," sighed Jareth, taking Toby from his advisor. "She's come much too far… I'm but two hours from losing her forever."

"Di'n't you cast a spell to bring 'er to you?" asked Brisiri incredulously.

"Of course I did," replied Jareth crossly. "It's all up to the dwarf to give it to her…."

"Well, that was a brilliant idea, wasn' it?" said Brisiri sarcastically. "Trustin' dwarves, Jareth, really… you've lost it, you 'ave."

"What was I supposed to do?" snapped Jareth heatedly, glaring at Brisiri. "I had to use someone she trusts to bring her the spell, and I, regrettably, seem not to fall into that category."

"Calm down, calm down," said Brisiri. "You don' want me fallin' into that bloody Bog. She'll get it eventually, I know it. Just be patient, child." With that, she stalked away.

Jareth sighed, gazing back into the depths of the crystal, watching Sarah and her companions making their way through the forest that served as the final barrier between the Labyrinth and the Goblin City. "Look, Sarah," he mused, eyes locking onto the baby in his arms. "Is this what you're trying to find?" He smiled ruefully as Toby took a few swats at the spinning crystal. "So much trouble over such a little thing, but not for long…. She'll soon forget all about you, my fine fellow. Just as soon as Hoggle gives her my present, then she'll forget everything." 

She would forget that she hated him. She would forget all the times she thought he had hurt her. She would forget that he was the villian in her fairy tale, and the stage would be set for him to make her fall in love with him. All that was left to do was wait….


	6. As the World Falls Down

Chapter Six: As the World Falls Down

Night had fallen over the castle beyond the Goblin City. Every goblin within had either retreated to the hole in the wall where it slept or passed out on the floor of the throne room from too much ale. These Jareth had kicked to the corner, leaving him utterly alone.

She had bitten into the peach, finding herself immediately under the Goblin King's spell. Now, he sat perched on the windowsill overlooking the Labyrinth, spinning several crystals in one hand. Each one held an image of the dream he was trying to send to Sarah's mind, the message he was trying to get across, and a silent plea was evident in his eyes as he blew each of them one by one into the air. Please let this work, Jareth silently implored as he watched the final crystal gliding off towards his precious Sarah. He needed this to work. He closed his eyes, and let his conciousness stream to hers, bringing him into his own dream….

The entire world seemed to sparkle white and silver as Jareth found himself in his ballroom, just as he planned, clad in an exquisite blue frock coat that glittered in stark contrast to the faded wardrobes of the Fae and Sidhe who served as the guests at this little masquerade. Laughter and music filled the air, as his guests almost immediately accosted him. Then she arrived….

Never had Jareth seen anything more exquisite than this mortal girl, dressed in a gown of white and gleaming silver with her hair a mass of dark ringlets, like the queen she was… at least in his mind. Beautiful pale jewels locked onto Jareth's mismatched eyes, and his mask fell, both the literal goblin mask and the one of hatred and villainy that he had been wearing all this time. He had to remember to breathe. There was no loathing in her eyes, just a desperate, innocent desire for a friendly, familiar face in this room full of strangers, and maybe something that could have been the spark of a first love. Words couldn't describe how much he wished that were true….

Before he could approach her, however, she was lost to the crowd, and he was swept into the arms of some Fae woman. He obliged her with a dance like the gentleman he was, but his eyes never left Sarah. She didn't notice, as she was being bullied by a group of malicious Sidhe intent on mocking her humanity. They backed off, however, upon seeing the warning glare in Jareth's eyes as he turned into the crowd and lost Sarah once more.

No sooner had the woman finally let go of Jareth did two Sidhe girls who seemed beside themselves with giddiness at meeting the Goblin King accost him. He tolerated their irritating giggles for only a moment before extricating himself from their unwanted attentions and sauntering away with a forced grin to follow Sarah. He was almost there when another woman forcibly dragged him behind her large yellow fan… but even that massive feather couldn't stop him from seeing what lay on the other side in a matter of moments.

He blew aside the feather, and Jareth's eyes met Sarah's again. His heart thundered against his chest as he slowly stepped forward, drinking in the look of sad love deep in her eyes. At last… he thought to himself as he took her in his arms and glided out onto the dance floor.

He swept her into his arms, holding her ever closer for the first time ever. Though she never once met his eyes, his love for her was evident in every movement, every beat of his heart in time with hers. This felt so right, to free himself from that horrible necessity of pretending to hate the poor girl just so she could have her dangers untold and hardships unnumbered… but, if Fortune smiled on him, that would all be over. He caught her eyes again and brought her closer to him, whispering in her ear the lyrics of the song that were to be an irrevocable truth should all go well. "I'll be there for you… as the world falls down…."

She was trembling now, having noticed the crowd that had gathered to jeer at the spectacle. The Goblin King, professing his love to a mere mortal girl? Jareth's calculating eyes lifted from Sarah's for a moment to shoot a warning glare at the vicious throng before dipping back to his future queen. He smiled reassuringly. Just relax, my darling, he thought gently, as he had no voice in this vision. Calm yourself, and enjoy your faery tale ball.

She didn't.

One final sneer from some tactless Fae broke the poor thing into a panic. She nearly tore Jareth's arms from their sockets as she wrenched away, darting through the crowd and searching desperately for an exit. The Fae and Sidhe reached out for her, shouting their displeasure at the end of their entertainment, but Jareth merely watched. He could literally feel his heart breaking in two as he watched her smash the vision.

He had failed. He had been so close, seen the look that could have blossomed into a love that would last, but he had failed. His conciousness returned to his body, which began to shudder uncontrollably with previously surpressed emotions. Jareth knew now that his undying love for the most precious thing in two worlds was doomed to remain forever unrequited.

A lone tear rolled from his blue eye, splattering against the stone of the windowsill.

**By the way, this is my favorite chapter in this fic. *squee* **


	7. I Can't Live Within You

Chapter Seven: I Can't Live Within You

Distraught, Jareth made his way back down to his throne room. Toby, who had been left to play with some goblins for the moment, seemed to sense the Goblin King's misery and crawled over to him. Jareth smiled weakly at the concerned look in the babe's large blue eyes and lifted him onto the throne. "Perceptive for such a little thing, aren't you?" he remarked. "I'm fine, child…." He gave the boy another halfhearted smirk before his Captain of the Guard came bursting in, quite hysterical.

"Your Highness!" the goat-like goblin wailed. "Your Highness!" Jareth rolled his eyes. Did he have a point, or was he simply screaming his title for the joy of it? "Your Highness, the girl! The girl who ate the peach, who forgot everything!"

Jareth's broken heart sank. She would be nearly there by now, wouldn't she? Particularly with how he had brought her closer with the dream. Had she not destroyed the illusion, she would be right here in his throne room, and he would be telling her everything… she would be his. "What of her?" he sighed, trying to keep his voice cool and careless.

"She's here with the monster, Sir Didymus, and the dwarf who works for you!" howled the guard, confirming Jareth's suspicions. Any moment now, she would arrive to lay the death blow on the Goblin King's poor, languishing heart. "They got through the gates, and they're on their way to the castle!"

"What?" demanded Jareth, though he had known all along that she would defeat him. She wouldn't want it to be too easy to infiltrate his "evil lair," would she? "Stop her!" he demanded. "Call out the guards! Take the baby and hide it! She must be stopped! Do something! Come on, move! MOVE!" The goblins gathered up Toby and immediately sounded the alarm, bellowing for guards.

For his part, Jareth dashed up to his own chambers and stood on the windowsill, leaning out for the best view of the pandemonium ensuing as his precious Sarah and her friends fought desperately against his goblins. She hardly needed to— Jareth was keeping a close eye on the proceedings, ensuring with his magic that none of his army came even close to harming her. And she would never know that he was defending her….

Finally, she vanished from his sight, and he knew she was inside the castle. With a sigh, he translocated out to the final obstacle before Sarah left him forever… a room full of staircases.

Sure enough, there she was, gazing around at the tangle of stairs she had found herself in. He advanced on her from the shadows, twisting and turning at angles that defied gravity because of the magic in the room. He was desperate now, singing the firsts words that came to mind, even though his mind knew that he was only pushing her further away with the words of his reckless heart.

_"How you've turned my world, you precious thing  
You starve and near exhaust me."_

He was closer to her than he'd been since the masquerade, but he used his magic to send himself straight through her like a ghost, just to stop himself from taking advantage of their proximity. Still, he finally told her, albeit in an extremely vague and incredibly ambiguous way, that he had never for a moment been working against her.

_"Everything I've done, I've done for you  
I move the stars for no one  
You've run so long, you've run so far"_

There was that vicious hatred in her beautiful eyes again, tearing at his heart as though determined to rip it out of his chest. Oh, how much easier his life would be if she only could….

_"Your eyes can be so cruel  
Just as I can be so cruel"_

He summoned her quarry and drew her attention to it by throwing a crystal to where the babe was sitting. Jareth smirked, seeing that Toby was far more interested in the crystal than his sister's cries. Hopefully she would see that he preferred it here… he had never been in danger. He cursed himself for a moment as he sank behind a wall into shadow— love had made him delusional.

_"Though I do believe in you….  
Yes, I do"_

He had known all along that she would leave him, yet realization was only now fully hitting him with its acrid bitterness. Only now was he working so tirelessly to keep her in the Underground. But now, it was too late.

_"Live without your sunlight"_

With her gone, a dark cloud would forever dwell over the Labyrinth. Joy would never touch the Goblin King's heart, nor would a smile linger on his lips for more than the briefest instant. She gave him the sun, and without her… all would forever be night.

_"Love without your heartbeat"_

Never would he feel her lips against his, feel her heart in time with his own. He was condemned never to hear the three words he so longed to hear from her lips….

_"Love without your heartbeat"_

Tears threatened to fall again as Jareth miserably watched all that he had ever loved frantically trying to find her way through the maze of stairs to her brother… away from him. He had lost her from the moment they had properly met… it was only a matter of time, now. His voice cracked with anguish as he sang the final words of his song, more to himself than to her.

_"I… I can't live… within you…."_


	8. Powerless

Chapter Eight: Powerless

Finally, Sarah leapt into the depths of the staircase room towards her brother, and, with an enormous effort from the unhealthy amount of magic he'd been using tonight, Jareth translocated them both into the ruin of a chamber symbolic of his broken dreams and shattered heart. He lurked behind a crumbling pillar, drinking in her beauty for what he knew would be the last time. Her eyes blazed with fury and she glared at him, approaching him slowly, almost menacingly. "Give me the child," she demanded.

"Sarah, beware," Jareth warned. "I have been generous up until now, but I can be cruel." Not that he would ever purposefully do anything to harm her, but in his depseration, he wasn't thinking clearly, and he just might.

"Generous?" scoffed Sarah. "What have you done that's generous?" She didn't know…. She still didn't know… and she never would….

"Everything!" snapped Jareth. He took a deep breath and continued, more calmly, but still in agony. "Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside-down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?" Sarah, my love, I would never have hurt you… I did nothing you did not ask of me… your brother was never in danger… I love you. The words that would keep her there refused to come off his tongue.

She glared harder at him and drove the once-mighty king backwards with the power of her hatred. To his horror, she began to speak the words that had destroyed him in the book. Had she not hurt him badly enough already? "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, for my will is as strong as yours, and my—"

"Stop!" demanded Jareth, readying himself for one last attempt at keeping her there. "Wait. Look, Sarah. Look what I'm offering you." He summoned a crystal, and his heart burned to see that her dreams were still his own reflection. Had they met under more favorable circumstances, she would have been his in a heartbeat. But no— Fate was cruel, crueller by far than he could ever be. "Your dreams."

She was pitiless. The fateful words that would seal his fate and destroy him kept coming, quickly and furiously. "And my kingdom as great…."

"I ask for so little," pleaded Jareth, his mismatched eyes alive with heartache. 'Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want." She had always longed to be a princess, and to live in her own faery tale. She could be his queen, and what better happy ending could there be? And then there was what the crystal showed him! He was offering himself, her dreams, to her, more than eagerly, and she was turning him and his undying love down.

"My kingdom as great…" she faltered. Jareth waited with bated breath. If she hesitated for but a few more seconds, she would be his. The game would end, and he would be free to tell her everything. Her eyes caught the clock behind him, and she came to the false realization that her brother was but seconds away from being turned into a goblin. "Damn! I can never remember that line!" I wouldn't change him into anything but a Fae… Jareth burned to say, but he couldn't.

The words to seal her conviction to abandon him came off Jareth's own tongue, in a horribly mangled confession of his devotion. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." He cursed himself even as he spoke. He had meant only to ask for her love, but somehow his resolution to play the villain to her heroine had intervened and destroyed everything.

"My kingdom as great… my kingdom as great…." Jareth's heart was beating painfully fast. In a matter of moments, his foolishness would matter not… if only she faltered for another second.

She remembered.

"You have no power over me." The clock chimed, and as if smashing his heart to pieces and handing back a pile of dust wasn't enough of a prize, she had to repeat it, more spitefully. "You have no power over me!" Jareth gazed back at her for one more moment, regret and utmost sorrow etched into every inch of his face, and tossed the crystal back into the air to translocate both of them back to the Aboveground. She landed at the foot of the stairs, and he flew out a nearby open window as an owl, giving her only a reproachful hoot and an apologetic glance as he flew off out an open window.

He lingered at the branch where he had spent so much time before she had revealed her utter hatred of him, watching her say her goodbyes to the friends who had helped her. Oh, Sarah… if only you had expected something different of me… I wanted to be your Prince Charming Sarah, and I know you wanted the same, but I could not. I love you, my precious thing… I know you cannot hear, but consider this a final goodbye from the only man who can ever give you all that you dream of.

Sir Didymus, Ludo, and the dwarf appeared through the mirror into her room, along with several goblins that had known nothing for her but malice. And yet Jareth was forced to remain on the outside looking in as she danced with those who had hurt her, shining dark hair flying around her face, which bore the only smile he had ever seen there.

She had seen fit to forgive the goblin guards that had attacked her, and the Fieries that had tried to take off her head. She bore no ill will towards Hoghead, who had betrayed her, but he, the Goblin King who loved her and had done nothing she had not asked of him, was outcasted, forced to watch until it seemed his heart would cave in from the agony.

With a hoot that sounded of a sob, Jareth stretched his pale wings and soared off towards the moon, back towards his lonely lair Underground. He collapsed, trembling, in his throne the moment he was a Fae again, with his face buried in his hands, one word on his lips.

"Sarah…."

***

Night had fallen Aboveground. A white owl winged its way to Sarah's bedroom, fluttering through the window and perching on her bedpost. She was fast asleep, a piece of confetti caught in her hair and a small smile on her lips. Jareth transformed, gazing at her for one last time, relishing this moment alone with her where she wasn't hating him. To be fair, if she awoke, she would be furious, but he was determined not to arouse that anger.

He gently removed the confetti from her hair, lingering to stroke her cheek softly. "I love you, Sarah," breathed Jareth, so quietly it couldn't even be called a whisper, "and someday, I will tell you as I should have from the moment I met you. We will meet again, my precious thing. You need only say my name, and I will come. Until then…." He brushed his lips delicately across her cheek, leaving a trace of glitter there as the only sign that he had ever been here.

"Farewell."

**I might write a sequel to this eventually ^_^ Can't just leave our poor Goblin King all sad and stuff, now, can we? Then again, I have entirely too many ideas bouncing around in my mind for just ONE sequel.... stay tuned!**


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